The present invention relates to improvements in the composition and manufacture of golf club heads and golf club shafts, both of which are composed of composites comprised of a metal or plastic matrix and a fiber such as graphite or a ceramic, which may be whiskerized, and which may be selectively weighted with tungsten particles and the like and may also be surface hardened using fullerenes to apply a hard coating such as titanium carbide
Heretofore golf club head materials have consisted of woods, including persimmon, laminates of various woods and woods filled with resins, etc; metals of aluminum, stainless steel, brass, bronze, titanium, various alloys of these and other metals; graphite fiber reinforced plastics of various kinds; and ceramic particle or whisker reinforced metals containing up to 50 volume percent ceramic phases such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,102 in which the metal is aluminum with a variety of ceramic particles.
The golf club shaft heretofore has consisted of monolithic metal alloy tubes such as carbon steel, stainless steels, high alloyed steels, titanium and aluminum alloys and plastic matrix composites reinforced with graphite fiber, boron fiber and various metal wires such as titanium.
An ideal golf club material is lightweight, high strength, high hardness; good wear resistance, good impact strength or toughness and high modulus or resistance to bending. The shaft, and especially composite shafts, should have high shear strength and torsional modulus, which is high resistance to torquing or twisting. Present materials do not process the ideal blend of these desired properties. For example, up to 50 v/o ceramic particle reinforced aluminum does not process as high modulus, hardness and wear resistance as desired and that can be achieved with a higher ceramic particle content.
Graphite fiber reinforced plastics lack hardness and wear resistance. Graphite fiber reinforced resin shafts without or with boron fibers lack high torsional modulus as well as abrasion resistance.
The present invention cures the above-described deficiencies of golf club heads and shafts heretofore in use. The present invention can also be utilized to improve the performance of existing golf clubs through the utilization of many of the materials as an integral part of the existing clubs that includes the category of xe2x80x9cironsxe2x80x9d.
It is an object of the present invention to provide novel and improved golf club structures that overcome the above-described deficiencies of prior art golf club heads and shafts and to provide novel methods of producing such structures.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide novel methods and structures for improving the performance of existing golf clubs, including both irons and woods as well as shafts.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide novel methods for making improved golf club structures, characterized by relatively light weight while providing high strength and hardness, enabling the construction of larger club heads with selective weighting in various sections of the club that can provide unique performance advantages.
One aspect of the present invention provides improved golf club structures comprising one or more of fiber reinforced metals; ceramic particle or whisker reinforced metal matrices, tubular reinforcements, graphite or ceramic fibers with whiskers growing off the fiber as reinforcement for the golf club.
Another aspect of the invention provides improved golf club structures comprising one or more of the following: a carbon matrix with graphite or ceramic reinforcement in particle or fiber form, a graphite or ceramic reinforcement in particle or fiber form with a plastic matrix containing a select elemental or compound additive that forms a carbide or other hard matrix plus when the matrix is pyrolyzed (carbonized).
Another aspect of the invention provides improved golf club structures comprising one or more of the following: hybride composite containing more than one reinforcement type, such as fiber and particles, and matrix, such as carbon and metal, ceramic or plastic.
A further aspect of the invention provides improved golf club structure comprising of multilaminate composites which comprise adjacent layers of materials such as metal-metal, metal-plastic, metal-wood, metal-ceramic, or metal-composite or which may comprise alternate combinations of layers of: plastic composite-ceramic, composite-composite, metal-ceramic-plastic, composite-wood-ceramic, or metal-metal-composite.
A still further aspect of the invention provides improved golf club and other structures embodying a coating containing carbon in the form of fullerenes (xe2x80x9cbuckyballsxe2x80x9d), such as C60, and higher homologs that functions as a bonding layer along with composite compositions with metals or plastics or when heat treated forms a carbide surface which is harder than the original metal.
A still further aspect of the invention is achieving enhanced performance through the size and concentration of the constituent components of particle size, fiber size or laminate thickness including combinations thereof.
A still further aspect of the invention is the concurrence of two materials integral to each other including ceramic-metal, metal-metal, plastic-ceramic, plastic-metal, metal-composite, plastic-composite and combinations thereof.
A still further aspect of the invention is the provision of novel methods for making golf club structures involving the infiltration of a matrix material such as a metal into a porous array of another material such as ceramic particles or fibers and/or heavy metal particles such as tungsten to achieve special properties such as hardness and weight and/or controlling the weight of the club in specific areas to influence the center of gravity, or expand or lower the xe2x80x9csweetxe2x80x9d spot.
Still further aspects of the invention involve processes for making composite structures, such as golf club heads, works of art and mechanical structures, wherein the preform or reinforcement is a naturally occurring starting product, such as wood, paper, cotton or wool, that contains one or more of a cellulose, semi cellulose or lignin, which is subjected to heat under pyrolizing conditions to form a porous char that is infiltrated with a matrix forming material, such as molten metal, alumina sol gel, or a resin which can be a thermoplastic or thermoset.
Further novel aspects of this invention include golf club structures comprising the following:
1. A golf club that contains more than 50% ceramic phase.
2. A golf club that contains a continuous ceramic phase.
3. A golf club that contains both a continuous ceramic and metal phase.
4. A golf club consisting of multilayer composites.
5. A golf club containing two or more multilayers of wood, metal/intermetallic, ceramics, plastic, composite.
6. A golf club containing fiber reinforced metal.
7. A golf club containing whiskers in a matrix of metal/intermetallic, ceramic, plastic.
8. A golf club containing fibers and whiskers in any matrix.
9. A golf club containing whiskers attached to fibers or particles in any matrix.
10. A golf club from a material containing an intermetallic phase.
11. A golf club containing carbon or graphite as a reinforcement or matrix.
12. A composite golf club in which the reinforcement or matrix contains a form of silicon carbide.
13. A golf club or shaft containing a multiplicity of hollow forms.
14. A golf club or shaft consisting of a composite made from hollow forms.
15. A golf club utilizing a fullerene molecular structure.
16. A golf club with a carbide containing alloy composition in its surface.
17. Ibid 16 from a fullerene containing precursor.
18. A golf club with a diamond-like carbon or diamond coating.
19. Ibid 18 from a fullerene-containing precursor.
20. A golf club containing a carbide as at least one constituent.
21. A golf club utilizing a graphite structure as a monolith or composite, which has its surface, converted to a single or mixed carbide.
22. Ibid 21 in which the graphites structure contains whiskers which may or may not be attached to a graphite fiber.
23. A carbon-carbon composite reimpregnated with a plastic or metal.
24 A golf club containing tungsten selectively distributed the club head to control center of gravity, which is produced by molten metal encapsulation and/or infiltration.
25. A composite golf club head or shaft formed by squeeze casting.
26. A composite golf club composition containing distributed tungsten or other heavy element with a density greater than 10 g/cc formed in-situ to form the golf club in which the tungsten is encapsulated and integral therein.
27. A golf club containing particularate tungsten which becomes encapsulated and/or infiltrated during the club fabrication process.
28. A golf club containing sintered ceramic preform bound with a second phase, which is encapsulated in a matrix metal by casting fabrication process.
29. A golf club containing an element heavier than the matrix or binder metal which is used to form the club.
30. A composite material consisting of at least two elements or different materials compositions mixed together and formed to produce a composite with little to no remaining porosity which is fabricated into a golf club comprising the hitting portion and/or shaft. Either composition may be metallic or non-metallic that includes carbon or ceramics which may consist of particularate or fibrous forms with at least one phase of the composite continuous throughout the component. One phase may be advantageously concentrated in select portions or areas of the golf club. The composite composition may be formed in the absence of any molten phase via solid state reactions, however, in some select cases wherein an intermetallic is formed, a molten phase may be advantageous. A molten phase may also be advantageous to encapsulate a non-reactive component such as a heavy element, carbon or ceramic.
31. A composite containing fullerenes that forms a subcomponent or the entire golf club with the fullerenes in the form of
A) fullerenes containing soot, as produced, for example, by the Huffman/Kratchner process
B) refined into select molecular weight from C60 to C500.
C) fullerene nanotubular shapes containing singular and multiwalled
D) fullerenes of all types mixed with other reinforcements in matrices of plastic, metal or ceramic
33. A golf club subcomponent such as a club face insert or sole produced from multilayers of the same or alternate materials including alternate soft and hard layers.